The birth of a Billabong wetsuit, how your wetsuit is made.

Have you ever wondered how those snug little rubber suits we wear are crafted and how the neoprene is made? No, me neither, If I am brutally honest, it is something I have never given any thought to, I just assumed, company’s bought the neoprene in from somewhere and cut it into panels before joining it all together. I guess it is a little bit naïve of me and makes me not very socially and ethically aware, but now Billabong have released an interesting video showing how their Xero Furnace wetsuit is manufactured and it has helped explain the process.

The clip shows the process right from the beginning, from nuggets of rubber in a paper bag, through to the neoprene layers being constructed, right up to the suit panelling being joined and the Billabong logos being added. There seems to be a lot of stretching and squashing of the rubber in the early stages but I felt the construction of the neoprene could have been explained a little bit clearer.

So next time you are slipping into your wetsuit and taking it for granted that it will help keep you warm and extend your surf session, you can now have a better idea of how that suit came to be on your back and of the manufacturing process involved. The making of Billabong Wetsuits is embedded below, Billabong claim the Xero Furnace is the warmest and most comfortable suit ever invented, let us know if you have a Xero Furnace suit and if you agree?